System for organization, display, and navigation of digital information

ABSTRACT

The present invention is a system and method for the organization, display, and navigation of digital information. The present system allows for the easy navigation of a primary source of information, as well as the navigation of secondary information related to the primary information source. The present system may be used to organize, display, or navigate any type of digital information, but is primarily intended to be used to organize, display, or navigate the results of a web based search engine. Primary source information is displayed in a search results window while secondary information is displayed in an operational window. The primary source information may be displayed as thumbnail images of web pages that satisfy a search request. The user may scroll through the thumbnail images of the web pages of the primary information source and navigate web pages of interest in the operational window.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for theorganizing, displaying, and navigating digital information. Inparticular, the present system allows for the easy navigation of primarysources of information, as well as the navigation of secondaryinformation embedded in the primary information sources.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A web based search engine is a common tool employed by users of theinternet to find and explore web based content. A user enters searchterms into a search engine, and the search engine finds relevant webpages based upon the specified criteria. Once the relevant web pages arefound, the search engine displays the search results to the user.Typically, the user is provided with a list of links to web pages withrelevant information and text based excerpts of the content at thelinked web page. A second method of displaying search engine resultsuses “thumbnail” images of the content of individual web pages,displayed in conjunction with the link to the web page and associatetext excerpt. A thumbnail image of web page content is a miniaturizedpicture of content from the HTML page at the corresponding URL.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention offers a new and unique method of organizing anddisplaying web based search engine results, allowing the user tonavigate the search engine results in a more expedient and efficientmanner. After an internet search has been performed, the present systemdisplays results in thumbnail image form (typically two or more). Thesethumbnail images of web pages that match the search criteria aredisplayed in a horizontal row across the user's screen, with eachthumbnail being large enough so that the user may review information ateach corresponding web page. By selecting the thumbnails the user mayview the corresponding web pages, or the user may navigate the remainderof the search results by selecting a right shift button. The initialselect of the right shift button shifts each of the thumbnails to theleft and another thumbnail appears on the right side of the screen inhorizontal alignment with the other thumbnails.

After the initial select of the right shift button, thumbnail imagesappear in a horizontal alignment on the screen. Another select of theright shift button shifts the leftmost thumbnail off of the screen, anda new search result thumbnail enters the screen from the right. Thethumbnails shown on the screen are again aligned horizontally. At thispoint a left shift arrow button appears on the left side of the screen.A select of the left shift arrow button shifts the thumbnails to theright, pushing the rightmost thumbnail off of the screen and placing thepreviously viewed thumbnail in the right most position. The user maynavigate the search result thumbnails by selecting the right or leftshift buttons.

If a user finds a particular search result thumbnail which is believedto contain relevant information, the present invention allows for theuser to search the content of the corresponding web page withoutdisrupting the search results. Selecting the thumbnail image (e.g., bydouble clicking) opens a separate browser window with the correspondingweb page. This separate browser window, referred to as the operationalwindow, is placed in front of the original search window and formattedto a size that allows the user to view the entire operational windowwhile simultaneously viewing a potion of the original search window.

The user is then free to navigate the operational window. While the usernavigates the operational window, a smaller thumbnail image of the webpage which the user selected to open in the operational window appearsbelow the horizontally aligned search results in the original searchwindow. Additional thumbnail images of web pages selected by the userappear below the original search results in the order of the user'sselections. The user therefore, is able to determine quickly which webpages from the original search results were visited.

After a user has opened an operational window, the user may return tothe original search window by selecting the original search window orclosing the operational window. As mentioned previously, the operationalwindow is formatted such that while the operational window is in frontof the original search window, a portion of the original search windowstill remains visible. This arrangement allows for the user to easilyreturn to the original search window.

The present invention provides a more efficient and dynamic displaymethod for viewing and navigating the results of an internet basedsearch engine. By using the right and left shift buttons, the user maynavigate the different web page results of the search. By selecting oneof the thumbnails the user is allowed to search the information embeddedin each of these web pages without disrupting the searching process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an initial screen display according to an example embodimentof the present invention;

FIGS. 2-4 are screen displays comprising search results according to anexample embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5 a-5 d are screen displays illustrating the presentation ofsearch results according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a screen display of an operational window according to anexample embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a screen displays illustrating the presentation of secondarysearch results according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the primary components for an exampleembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description details an example embodiment of the presentinvention. The present invention provides a new method in which digitalinformation may be organized, displayed, and navigated. The presentinvention may be used in conjunction with any type of digitalinformation, but is intended primarily to be used for the purpose ofdisplaying the results of an internet based search engine. By describingthis example use, it is not to be implied that the present invention maynot be used to organize, display, or navigate other types of digitalinformation.

In an example embodiment, the present invention is a website based onthe commercially popular Macromedia Flash program. For the purposes ofdescribing the example embodiment, the present invention operates inconjunction with a search engine that provides a sequence of multiplerelevant web pages in response to a search request. For further purposesof this description, this sequence is referred to as the primary searchresults.

To use the example embodiment of the present invention, a user firstvisits the web page containing the web based search engine which employsthe present invention. An exemplary initial web page may be seen inFIG. 1. Upon visiting the particular web page in question, the user ispresented with a text box 10. The web page may also contain content inaddition to the text box 10, including but not limited to:advertisements, links to other web pages, trademarks and trade names,news headlines or any other relevant information. The user enters searchterms into the text box 10, and upon selecting a search activationbutton 11, the search engine generates the primary search results.

There are several means by which the primary search results may begenerated. However, in the example embodiment the search results aregenerated by the following method. Search items returned are found bythe keywords which the user enters and are returned in the followingorder: conjoined search words found in the site description, top-levelcategories that match the search words, meta-tags (site keywords) thatmatch the search words, any search words found within the sitedescription, and URL titles that contain any of the search words.

The search engine gives first priority to conjoined search words whichare found in the site description. A search using the search terms “carsand trucks” first finds web pages that contain the entire string “carsand trucks” together somewhere within the page description. Using PHP,the user input is compared to strings within a MySQL database. Thefollowing code may be used:

$sql = “select * from searchData where LOWER(site_description) likeLOWER(%‘$user_input’%)”.

The use of the word “LOWER” may be used to convert a string to lowercase so the site search is not restricted to only upper case wording.

After first searching for instances of conjoined strings, the searchengine gives priority to category searches. Using the previous example,“cars and trucks” may not be a category, but “cars” and “trucks” may beindividually categorized in the database. The PHP code parses the stringinto individual words and completes a word-by-word comparison. Thecomparison is done by splitting the user string, delimited by spaces,and then cross-referencing the split string with the category section ofthe search database. So “cars and trucks” becomes “cars,” “and,” and“trucks.”

A program loop is created so that while there are more items in anarray, the loop continues. The search engine first checks for “cars”within the category column of the search table. If it is there, it isadded to the result. The term “and” is skipped because it is an article.The search engine then searches within the category column of the searchtable for “trucks.” Such a process is repeated for each search term.

The search engine next searches for meta-tags (site keywords) that matchthe search terms. Most websites use meta-tags in order to describe theirsites via keywords. In this process the user string is parsed and thesearch is conducted for each individual term in the aforementionedmanner. The search engine finally searches for any search words foundwithin the site description. These descriptions are searched in the samemanner as the meta tags. Each site has a corresponding site descriptionin the MySQL database in the “siteSearch” column. This text-column issearchable, and it is searched for the search terms. If a match isfound, the image for that site is retrieved and “echoed” out into thePHP code. Finally, URL titles that contain any of the search words arelocated.

The present invention may be implemented using a Macromedia Flashwebsite. When the search is conducted, the search engine returns aresult for each of the five search criteria columns. Each individualresult is either true if there is a match, or null if there is no match.Results are sent to searchPage.php, which contains MySQL code to call toa database comprising images for the web pages. If there is a match, theURL and image file for the result are returned and echoed to the PHPcode as follows:

MySQL statement = “select * from searchTable where siteDescriptioin =‘$userInput’”; If(MySQL) // if there is a result, do something {$imageFile = $row[‘imageFile’]; $url = $row[‘url’]; // now echo thisinfo out echo(“&imageFile=$imageFile&”); // the ampersands are there soflash can spot them and pull the resulting image file and url in}

Flash is designed to read external file variables starting with theampersand. “$imageFile” is a PHP variable, so if the image file from theSQL database equals “images/mytruckPic.gif”, then$imageFile=“images/mytruck.gif”. So, using the above example, the actualsearchPage.php would look in a browser like“&imageFile=images/mytruckPic.gif.” This result is triggered by the userinputting text into the search field on the flash page. The flash page,when the submit or search activation button is selected, then posts theuser submitted data to the searchPage.php. The resulting searchPage.phpis read back into flash in order to create the picture array that theuser sees as a URL preview. Flash uses the following code to pick up theimage names from the PHP:

for (i=0; i<10; i++){ urlSite = eval(“_root.urlVar”+i); urlImage =eval(“_root.imageVar”+i); urlTitle = eval(“_root.titleVar”+i);loadMovie(urlImage, “scroll.result01.loader”); _root.urlTest.text =urlImage; } function loadURL ( ) { getURL(_root.resultLoader.urlSite,“_blank”); } stop( );

Now that flash has the resulting images from the PHP, it can display theimages onto the interface screen.

Upon the execution of the search the user is presented with a newscreen, as seen in FIG. 2. The new screen, referred to as the searchresults screen, consists of a results section 21, an advertisementsection 22 and a new search segment 23. However, this is not intended tolimit the scope of the present invention, as the search result screenmay include additional sections. In the example embodiment the newsearch segment 23 comprises a text box 10 and a search activation button11. The search segment 23 may also contain a spell check feature, whichchecks the search terms for proper spelling. At any time during the useof the present invention, the user may enter new search terms into thetext box 10 and activate a new search by selecting the search activationbutton 11. If a new search is conducted at any time, a new search resultscreen, as seen and described in FIG. 2, is displayed for the newprimary search results.

The advertisement section 22 of the search result screen, in the exampleembodiment, contains two separate rectangular advertisements 22 a and 22b aligned horizontally in the upper right hand portion of the webbrowser. The individual advertisements 22 a and 22 b may consist of anydesirable content, but are generally commercial in nature. As a featureof the example embodiment, if the user selects one of the advertisements22 a or 22 b, he is redirected to a web page linked to theadvertisement.

The results section 21 of the search result screen covers approximatelythe bottom two-thirds of the web browser in the example embodiment. Aprimary data set comprising a plurality of individual data segments(e.g., thumbnail images of web pages) is displayed in this section. Asshown in FIG. 2, the primary search results are displayed in the resultssection in thumbnail form 1 a, 1 b, and 1 c with each thumbnail 1 a, 1b, and 1 c representing an individual web page from the primary searchresults. When a search is conducted, the results section 21 of thesearch result screen initially displays thumbnail images 1 a, 1 b, and 1c aligned horizontally, as seen in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, in anexample embodiment of the present invention, three thumbnails 1 a, 1 b,and 1 c are aligned in a horizontal row in the middle of the screen.

Referring to FIG. 3, a scrolling function implemented with right andleft shift buttons may be used to view the individual data segments ofthe primary data set. A left shift button 2 and a right shift button 3are used to scroll the search results. If after receiving threethumbnails 1 a, 1 b, and 1 c the user selects this right shift button 3,the three thumbnail images 1 a, 1 b, and 1 c in FIG. 3 will be shiftedto the left and another thumbnail image will be placed in the rightmostposition of the row. This row of three thumbnail images 1 a, 1 b, and 1c as seen in FIG. 3, with one thumbnail 1 a in the left third of thehorizontal axis, one thumbnail 1 b in the central third of thehorizontal axis, and another thumbnail 1 c in the right third of thehorizontal axis, changes as the users selects the scroll or shiftbuttons 2, 3. As the right shift button 3 is selected, the leftmostthumbnail image 1 a is shifted off of the screen, the center 1 b andrightmost 1 c thumbnails are shifted to the leftmost and centralpositions, respectively, and a new thumbnail image 1 d appears in therightmost position, as seen in FIG. 4. As the user continues to selectthe right shift button 3, the leftmost thumbnail image is shifted off ofthe screen and a new thumbnail image is placed in the rightmostposition.

At the point that the first thumbnail image is shifted off of the rightside of the screen, the left shift 2 button appears on the left side ofthe screen. When the user selects the left shift button 2, the rightmostimage 1 d is shifted off of the screen, the center 1 c and leftmost 1 bthumbnail images are shifted to the rightmost and center positions,respectively, and the last image to be shifted off the right hand sideof the screen 1 a appears in the left most position. Thus, by using theright shift 3 and left shift buttons 2, the user may navigate thethumbnail images 1 of the primary search results.

The individual advertisements 22 a, 22 b appearing in the advertisementsection 22 may move in cohesion with the search result list. Forexample, every time the user clicks on the right arrow to move thesearch result list one thumbnail to the left, the advertisementthumbnails also move one thumbnail to the left. The advertisements maybe drawn from a separate table set up similar to the horizontal searchresult list.

In order to facilitate the user's ability to quickly and efficientlynavigate the thumbnail images 1, the web browser loads more images thanare shown on the screen. After conducting an initial search, the webbrowser downloads approximately the first 20 thumbnails 1, while onlydisplaying only a subset (e.g., the first three 1 a, 1 b, and 1 c). Asthe user shifts the images 1 to the left, the browser maintains aminimum number of thumbnail images 1 to the right and to the left of thedisplayed images. As there are more and more images 1 shifted to theleft, the images 1 to the far right are replaced and new images 1 aredownloaded.

An example may be demonstrated by FIG. 5 a, in which this process isdescribed with the browser maintaining a minimum of five images 1 on theright and left of the displayed images. FIG. 5 a shows the initialsearch results, in which 13 thumbnail images 1 a, 1 b, . . . 1 m areinitially downloaded. The first two thumbnail images 1 a and 1 b aredisplayed on the screen and the 11 sequential images 1 c . . . 1 m aredownloaded but not displayed on the screen. FIG. 5 b shows anintermediate stage where the user has selected the right shift button 3four times. As can be seen, images 1 a, 1 b, and 1 c are not displayedon the screen, but are saved. These images 1 a, 1 b, and 1 c which havebeen displayed in the results section 21 and then shifted off of thescreen using the right shift button 3, are the images which are referredto as the images saved to the left of the display area. Images 1 d, 1 e,and 1 f are displayed in the results section 21. Images 1 g . . . 1 mare not displayed on the screen, but are saved by the browser. Theseimages—which are not displayed in the display area, but will enter thedisplay area by selecting the right shift button 3 a sufficient numberof times—are the images which are referred to as the images saved to theright of the display area.

FIG. 5 c shows the process after two more right button selections, withimages 1 a . . . 1 e saved as to the left of the display area, images 1f, 1 g, and 1 h displayed in the results section 21, and images 1 i . .. 1 m saved as to the right of the screen. Once the images have beenshifted to the left a sufficient number of times so there are fiveimages on each side of the screen, a subsequent left shift of the images(using the right shift button) requires the browser to download a newimage to the right of the screen and to discard an image to the left ofthe screen. This result may be seen in FIG. 5 d where image 1 a has beendiscarded and image 1 n has been downloaded. If at this point the usershifts the images to the right (using the left shift button), a similarbut opposite process of downloading an image to the left of the screen 1a and discarding an image to the right of the screen 1 n occurs.

The advantage of this process is that it allows for the user to quicklybrowse the thumbnail images 1 of the primary search results. This resultoccurs because the images 1 to the right or left of the screen mayeasily be shifted to the screen, while the browser downloads thereplacement the images to the right or left of the display area. Whilethe previous example uses 13 thumbnail images, this number is in no wayintended to be limiting. Any number of images could be used, and theoptimal number of images depends on the memory of the web browser, thedownload speed, and the size of the thumbnail images.

The user may browse the primary search results by using the right 3 andleft 2 shift buttons (shown as arrows). When the user finds a thumbnailimage 1 that he believes may be relevant to the search criteria, he mayview this web page in real time by selecting the thumbnail image 1(e.g., by double clicking on it). When the user selects the thumbnailimage 1 (e.g., by double clicking on it), the corresponding web page isopened in a new web browser, which is referred to as the operationalwindow 4. The operational window 4 opens to a size that allows the pageto be viewed but also allows the user access to the original searchwindow, as seen in FIG. 6. This size is the original size of theoperational window 4 although the size may be adjusted as any other webbrowser window.

The operational window 4 allows the user to explore secondaryinformation embedded in each of the individual data segments of primarydata set (i.e., the content of the web page) in the same manner as anyother web page. The user may scroll through the web page and may alsoselect links to other web pages. The link to the web page from theprimary search results is used to open the operational window and eachweb page that user selects from the original search window is recorded.This history is referred to as the secondary search results, and each ofthe selected web pages is displayed in thumbnail form in the searchresult window, below the primary search results. As shown in FIG. 6, theuser's selection of thumbnail image 1 a results in the display of thesame image 5 a just below the primary search results.

As the operational window 4 is in front of the original search resultwindow, the user navigates the operational window 4 as he would anyother web browser window. The user may easily return to the searchresult window to the front of the screen by either minimizing theoperational window 4 or by selecting on the dead space of the searchresult window.

The secondary search results are stored in a temporary database table.When an image is selected from the primary search results, the URL andcorresponding thumbnail image is saved into the temporary databasetable. The URLs and thumbnail images are then provided to the flash codeso that the secondary search results may be displayed and reviewed bythe user. The thumbnail images and URLs of the secondary search resultsare provided to the flash code in the same manner as the primary searchresults. The only difference is that the thumbnail images and URLs areretrieved from a different MySQL table. Therefore, the PHP also holdsthe code:

-   -   MySQLstatement=“select*from userTempTable10023408”;

where “UserTempTable” is concatenated with a session variable. In theabove example, the session number is 10023408, which is a numberassigned by the web server. The table “userTempTable+session variable”is created as soon as the website of the present invention is opened.

The table is populated based on the web pages selected from the searchresults window. If the user searches “cars and trucks” and“chevrolet.com” appears in the primary search results and the userselects the corresponding thumbnail image, the “chevrolet.com” image isinserted into the database table.

MySQLstatement = “insert into userTempTable10023408values(‘chevrolet.com’, ‘chevrolet Image.gif’)”;The image “chevroletImage.gif” now appears in the history of thesecondary search results which appear below the primary search results.Every subsequent selection of a thumbnail image from the primary searchresults has the same effect, so the secondary search results continue togrow.

In an example embodiment of the present invention there is oneoperational window 4. When the user opens a web page from the primarysearch results, it appears in the operational window 4. The user maythen create secondary search results from the primary search result webpages that are selected.

FIG. 7 illustrates the presentation of secondary search resultsaccording to an example embodiment of the present invention. Secondarysearch results 5 appear as thumbnail images below the primary searchresults and reflect the order in which selections from the primarysearch results are made by the user. For example, if the user visits theweb page of image 1 b and then 1 d, then a smaller image of web page 1 bis displayed first 5 a and a smaller image of web page 1 d is displayedsecond 5 b. While reviewing the primary search results, the user maydecide to visit only a few of the many of web pages associated with thesearch results. The secondary search results section 5 of the displayallows the user to determine quickly which web pages were visited duringthe session. If the user visits more web pages than may be displayed onthe screen, left and right shift buttons may be added on either side ofthe secondary search results row so that the user may scroll through thesecondary search results in a manner similar to the primary searchresults.

Referring to FIG. 8, the primary components for an example embodiment ofthe present invention are shown. The features and functionality of thepresent invention may be provided to a plurality of computer users 30,32 by a web server 34 that obtains on behalf of the computer users 30,32 search results from a search engine 40. The search engine 40 may beunder the control of the web server 34 or it may be operated by a thirdparty that provides the search results to the web server 34. The webserver 34 may use the search engine results to locate corresponding webpage thumbnail images that are contained in a database 36 accessible tothe web server 34. The web server 34 retrieves the thumbnail images fromthe database 36 in order to present the search engine results to theuser computers 30, 32 in accordance with the features and functionalityof the present invention. A secondary search result history database 38may be used to temporarily store secondary search results for computerusers who select thumbnail images from the primary search results.Alternatively, the secondary search result history may be stored locallyat each user computer 30, 32.

Although the example embodiment of the present invention is to be usedin conjunction with an internet search engine, other embodiments arepossible. In fact, the present invention could be used to navigate anytype of digital information. The following possibilities are meant to beillustrative of different embodiments and are not intended to limit thescope of the invention due to possible embodiments not mentioned.

The present invention may be used to view news stories and headlines.For this embodiment the primary data set, analogous to the primarysearch results of the example embodiment, would consist of broadcategories such as world news, national news, sports news, or weather.When a category from the primary data set is selected, an operationalwindow appears in which specific news articles may be accessed. Thearticles that are accessed then comprise the secondary data set,analogous to the secondary search results of the example embodiment. Thepresent invention may also be used in conjunction with encyclopedicinformation in a similar manner. The broad categories of informationwould comprise the primary data set. The user could explore thesecategories with the operational window, with the history of theoperational window creating the secondary data sets.

The present invention may also be used in the sale of commercial goods.In such a situation the primary data set would consist of broadcategories of products, such as appliances, electronics, clothing, etc.The operational window could then be used to view the specific productsfrom each category of the primary data set. The products viewed by theuser would then create the secondary data sets. Product and pricecomparison would be easily conducted by reviewing the secondary datasets.

While example embodiments of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed, various modifications and combinations can be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. Modifications,combinations, and equivalents to the system and method of the presentinvention are intended to be covered and claimed.

1. A computer system comprising a web server with a web serverapplication for organizing, displaying, and navigating web search engineresults, comprising: a primary search results set of web page thumbnailimages only provided to said web server application by a web searchengine in response to a search request; a user computer in communicationwith said web server for receiving from said web server at least aportion of said primary search results set and for navigating saidplurality of individual web pages in said primary search results set ofweb page thumbnail images; a secondary search results database forstoring a secondary search results set comprising only individual webpage thumbnail images selected for viewing from said primary searchresults set of web page thumbnail images; a search results displaywindow at said user computer comprising a primary search results sectionand a secondary search results section, wherein: (a) said primary searchresults section displays individual web page thumbnail images from saidprimary search results set and comprises a primary scrolling functionfor viewing in said primary search results section each of saidindividual web page thumbnail images in said primary search results set;and (b) said secondary search results section displays only individualweb page thumbnail images selected for viewing from said primary searchresults section of said search results display window and comprises asecondary scrolling function for viewing said individual web pagethumbnail images in said secondary search results set; an operationalwindow at said user computer independent of said search results displaywindow for viewing individual web pages selected from said primarysearch results set and for navigating other web pages accessible fromsaid individual web page thumbnail images, wherein; (a) said individualweb pages appear in said operational window when selected from saidprimary search results section; (b) said individual web page thumbnailimages are added to said secondary search results set when selected fromsaid primary search results section; and (c) said individual web pagethumbnail images appear in said secondary search results sectionaccording to an order in which individual web pages are selected fromsaid primary search results section for viewing in said operationalwindow.
 2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said thumbnail imagesare displayed in one or more horizontally aligned cells across saidsearch results display window.
 3. The computer system of claim 2,wherein said primary scrolling function shifts said thumbnail imageshorizontally across said horizontally aligned cells.
 4. The computersystem of claim 2, wherein said individual web pages from said secondarysearch results set are displayed in one or more thumbnail image cellsaligned horizontally below said thumbnail image cells in said primarysearch results set of said primary search results section.
 5. Thecomputer system of claim 4, wherein said secondary scrolling functionshifts said secondary thumbnail images horizontally across saidhorizontally aligned cells.
 6. The computer system of claim 1, whereinsaid operational window is sized to allow a portion of said searchresults display window to appear while said operational window isnavigated.
 7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said primarysearch results set comprises web page data from an electronic databaseselected from the group consisting of current events, consumer productsavailable for purchase, or encyclopedic information.
 8. A computersystem comprising a web server with a web server application fororganizing, displaying, and navigating web search results from a webbased search engine, comprising: a primary search results set generatedfrom a web search engine, said primary search results set comprisingonly a plurality of web page thumbnail images; a user computer incommunication with said web server for receiving from said web server atleast a portion of said primary search results set and for navigatingsaid plurality of web pages in said primary search results set; asecondary search results database for storing a secondary search resultsset comprising only web page thumbnail images selected for viewing fromsaid primary search results set; a search result window at said usercomputer comprising a primary search results section and a secondarysearch results section, wherein: (a) said primary results sectiondisplays said primary search results set and comprises a primaryscrolling function for viewing in said primary search results sectionsaid web page thumbnail images in said primary search results set; and(b) said secondary search results section displays only web pagethumbnail images selected for viewing from said primary search resultssection of said search results display window and comprises a secondaryscrolling function for viewing said web page thumbnail images in saidsecondary search results set; an operational window at said usercomputer independent of said search results window for viewing selectedweb pages from said primary search results section and for navigatingother web pages associated with said selected web page wherein; (a) aselected web page appears in said operational window when selected fromsaid primary search results section of said search results window; (b)said selected web page thumbnail image is added to said secondary searchresults set when said web page thumbnail image is selected from saidprimary search results section of said search results window; and (c)said selected web page appears in said secondary search results sectionaccording to an order in which said web page thumbnail image wasselected from said primary search results section for viewing in saidoperation window.
 9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein saidthumbnail images are displayed in one or more horizontally aligned cellsacross said primary search results section of said search result window.10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein said primary scrollingfunction shifts said thumbnail images horizontally across saidhorizontally aligned cells.
 11. The computer system of claim 9, whereinweb pages from said secondary search results set are displayed belowsaid primary search results set as horizontally aligned cells.
 12. Thecomputer system of claim 8, wherein said operational window is sized toallow viewing of a portion of said search results window while saidoperational window is navigated.
 13. A method for presenting web searchengine results to a user computer comprising: receiving at a web serversearch criteria from a user computer; identifying a plurality of webpages that match said search criteria from said user computer; locatinga corresponding thumbnail image for each of said plurality of web pagesthat match said search criteria; transmitting to said user computer saidthumbnail images corresponding to said web pages; displaying in a firstweb browser window at said user computer: (a) a primary search resultssection displaying only thumbnail images from said primary searchresults set with a primary scrolling function for viewing in saidprimary search results section said thumbnail images from said primarysearch results set; and (b) a secondary search results sectiondisplaying only thumbnail images selected for viewing from said primarysearch results section with a secondary scrolling function for viewingin said secondary search results section selected thumbnail images fromsaid primary search results set; displaying said thumbnail images insaid primary search results section of said first web browser window atsaid user computer; displaying in a second web browser window at saiduser computer corresponding web pages for thumbnail images selected atsaid user computer from said primary search results section of saidfirst web browser window; locating thumbnail images for said selectedweb pages; adding said selected web pages to a secondary search resultsdatabase comprising only web pages selected from said primary searchresults section; displaying said thumbnail images for said selected webpages in a said secondary search results section of said first browserwindow at said user computer to create a history of web pages selectedonly from said primary search results section.
 14. The method of claim13 wherein displaying in said secondary search results section of saidfirst browser window at said user computer said thumbnail images forselected web pages comprises displaying said thumbnail images inhorizontally aligned cells.
 15. The method of claim 13 furthercomprising: displaying at said user computer a plurality ofadvertisements selected according to said search criteria; and replacingat least one of said plurality of advertisements displayed at said usercomputer in response to a user at said user computer navigating saidthumbnail images in said primary results section of said first browserwindow.